Talk:Rachni
The "trivia" section needs cleaning up, especially the part about Arachnids. I can see many spelling errors, and the meaning isn't clear the way it has been worded. There are some grammatical errors as well. 23:34, 27 October 2008 (UTC) The Queen leaving... How is she supposed to escape Noveria? Obviously no one is going to volunteer to give her a ride. :I wondered about that too -- Ventralis says that the cold kills rachni soldiers -- but then again, remember the rachni queens lived on planets with extremely hazardous environments during the Rachni Wars, that's why the Council couldn't negotiate with them. I suppose she's planning to live out there, so I imagine Binary Helix will be leaving Noveria in a big hurry. --Tullis 15:56, 9 November 2008 (UTC) Type of Ship I know this may seem like I'm quibbling over semantics, but after all, the devil is in the details: Was it ever stated that the rachni queen egg was found on a warship? All I remember was Yaroslev Tartakovsky saying the egg was found on a ship. SpartHawg948 21:45, 25 June 2009 (UTC) :I can't remember his exact phrase, but Han Olar talks about it too, though he only mentions it was "waiting since the last battles" so he could have been talking about the queen's egg or the ship. --Tullis 22:00, 25 June 2009 (UTC) I just played through Noveria and no he doesn't say warship he says "ship". 03:17, 19 July 2009 (UTC) Trivia whoever cleaned up the trivia need to distinguish a little more between "cleaning" and "carpet-bombing back to the stone-age", there's nothing left and it's all pressed into a block of text that's badly formatted. 05:48, 19 July 2009 (UTC) :I dunno, I think the trivia cleanup was spot on, and the formatting looks good to me. If you have any suggestions though, this is the place for them. SpartHawg948 09:15, 19 July 2009 (UTC) ::I'm starting to clamp down on trivia because every similarity - however tenuous - from every other franchise is creeping into trivia sections. This was intended to merge those similarities into one, with the most likely similarity left alone (the Arachnids). But yes, if you have formatting suggestions, please tell us. --Tullis 12:10, 19 July 2009 (UTC) That "rachni" is part of "Arachnid" is more a reference to the insect class arachnid than to Starship Troopers. :In what way? It shows a direct correlation between the previously established and well known precedent (the Arachnids) and the in-game race whose name is a reference to them (the Rachni). If it were more a reference to the arachnid class, I would expect the Rachni to actually resemble spiders. As it stands, the Rachni bear a much closer resemblance to the Arachnid warriors from the film version of Starship Troopers than they do spiders, further re-reinforcing the point (although it should of course be pointed out that the Arachnids in the film bore little resemblance to those described in the book). SpartHawg948 09:10, 17 August 2009 (UTC) ::The rachni are eight-limbed and joint-limbed insects, like scorpions, whereas Starship Troopers bugs are not. Also the rachni are sapient individual creatures that share a hive-mind but are still very smart on their own, while the bugs from Starship troopers are more like the Geth in organisation, diversity, individuality and objectives. :::No, not really. The Arachnids in Starship Troopers are actually very similar to the Rachni. The main difference is that, unlike the Rachni, an Arachnid queen exists almost solely to produce offspring, with the actual direction of the general populace left to the "Brain Bugs", who control the warriors and workers. Sound familiar at all? As for the Rachni being "a hive-mind but... still very smart on their own", where are you getting this? As soon as the warriors are separated from the queen, as happened on Noveria and with the Cerberus Rachni, they become mindless killing machines. Not very smart at all. Captain Ventralis even comments on the fact that they seem to lack even a basic animal intelligence. And again, the Rachni bear little resemblance to the arachnid class, as they carry themselves on four legs, as opposed to eight, and the head at the rear of the body leaning forward does make them bear a noticable resemblance to the Arachnid warriors from the film. So to reiterate, a clear corrolation can be drawn, both sociologically and physiologically, to the Arachnids from Starship Troopers, thus justifying the trivia. SpartHawg948 10:26, 17 August 2009 (UTC) :I'm noticing the trivia section stealthily expanding. Is there any way we can trim this down again? --Tullis 15:55, September 10, 2009 (UTC) ::Ok, well the only new bit that was in there was the tidbit about how the rachni "may allude" to the Alien films. Upon futher examination, I decided that the link was rather tenuous, so removed it. SpartHawg948 20:21, September 10, 2009 (UTC) :::The Rachni on noveria weren't stupid, they still used tactics and the like. They were insane. The reason they attacked everyone is because they were insane. The reason they threw themselves at the barricade was because they were insane. Properly nurtured rachni would be smart on their own, for sure.-- 08:10, December 24, 2009 (UTC) ::::You're right! If only I had said that myself... oh, that's right! I DID! Funny how that works out. SpartHawg948 08:12, December 24, 2009 (UTC) The scientist named "Flores" - any chance this is a reference to the character "Dizzy" Flores from Starship troopers?John117XL 03:17, January 24, 2010 (UTC) :It's possible, but I'd say unlikely, especially if we're talking the book Starship Troopers, maybe a little less unlikely if we're talking the film. Do I think Major Elena Flores, a high ranking female Cerberus officer placed in charge of (or at least in a position of authority in) a major Cerberus operation has any relation to Private "Dizzy" Flores, a male enlisted infantryman in no position of any authority whose most notable (and pretty much only) acts were getting shot by a Skinny and succumbing to his wounds? See where I'm coming from here? SpartHawg948 04:04, January 24, 2010 (UTC) Enders Game Am I the only one that sees any resemblance to the buggers from Ender’s Game? Insect race threatens to destroy civilization only to be repelled, and then many years later the egg of a queen is found and allowed to live in peace, starting a new colony, despite what its kind did? I think that anybody who has read Ender’s Game would see this. :Including, possibly, the person who already added it to the trivia section of this article. : ) --Tullis 16:02, October 11, 2009 (UTC) oops... sorry about that I was thinking though, I think that they match up with the buggers more than they with the Arachnids and after actualy reading the trivia section i think that the buggers need a bit more mention than the Arachnids. :The trivia section for this page has been getting out of control, so we've been keeping it to an absolute minimum (see above). Yes, the rachni resemble a lot of insectoid species in lots of books and movies, but that's because insectoid hive-minded aliens are a sci-fi staple. Seeing as the rachni's very name seems to be a reference to the Arachnids and their hierarchy is similar, I don't think giving this reference more credence is out of place. --Tullis 17:08, October 11, 2009 (UTC) ::You also have to take into account that fact that the Formics (aka "Buggers") and Arachnids are also fairly similar. The only major differences I see are the facts that (like the Rachni) the Arachnids have a societal hierarchy with several classes all serving various roles, while I haven't seen any real evidence of a Formic hierarchy, and also the fact that (like the Rachni) when the Arachnid leadership is eliminated, the Arachnid soldiers can still function and fight, albeit less effectively, whereas when the Formic queen is killed, Formic soldiers simply lose all ability to function. So while the back story of the rachni may more resemble Ender's Game than Starship Troopers, the rachni themselves seem to more closely resemble the Arachnids than they do the Formics. SpartHawg948 21:21, October 11, 2009 (UTC) Well, what I am saying is that I think their story is definitely inspired by the “formics” (I don’t remember them calling them that is the book but I'll take you word for it) and the similarities to the Arachnids mentioned in the section above where you discuss the trivia section were a coincidence, the rachni were purely original. If anybody here worked on them in the game just tell me if I’m wrong. :I don't understand what you mean. The rachni clearly aren't purely original. Besides, isn't UNC: Listening Post Alpha based on Starship Troopers? --Tullis 22:00, October 14, 2009 (UTC) Purely original was a bad choice of words. I meant that they were not inspired by the Arachnids, they could have been inspired by something else. Listening post alpha is a good point though, maybe I'm wrong. ::Mass Effect uses a lot of sci-fi staples from different places. I think the rachni are "the hive-minded hostile insect race" as the asari are the "beautiful green-skinned alien girls" (thank you, The Art of Mass Effect). So they're going to resemble a lot of different species from different sci-fi backgrounds -- the aliens from the Alien movies, the Formics, the Arachnids, etc. Since their actual name is apparently taken from the A''rachni''ds, they get mowed down by space marines and they have a hive mind, claiming they resemble the Arachnids isn't unwarranted. My personal opinion is that debating who they resemble more is like trying to pick out which ingredient "makes" the stew. : ) --Tullis 22:26, October 14, 2009 (UTC) Good point, I agree with that first sentance there. I still keep my idea that they are mostly taken from the Formics, but thats just me. They probably are just the "hive-minded hostle insect race" as you say. : Well, the whole 'single egg leads to survival of extinct species' looks like a very clear poiner toward Enders's game; at least it was the first thing that came to my mind when the queen started talking to Shepard. The shape of the Rachni is another matter. In any case, the creaters of Mass Effect seem to like mixing Sci-Fi stereotypes to come up with little surprises. E.g. The Krogan are introduced as the typical 'proud warrior race' that lives only to fight (Sort of like Klingons taken to the extreme), while in practice most seem quite pragmatic and can be reasoned with. Similarly, the Asari ar introduced as a sort of empathic, philosophical race and then turn out to produce some of the most cold-blooded killers in the Mass Effect universe. Ajvanmarle 09:31, February 15, 2010 (UTC) :: Just to throw some gee-whiz info out there, clear some things up as I had to inform someone else of this earlier too (when they deemed a comparison between Klingons and krogan worthy of being placed in the Biology section of the krogan article, go figure on that one!), the comparison between krogan and Klingons is not really a valid one, at least not as far as the whole "warrior race" thing goes. The krogan have a well-established history of being a so-called warrior-race, but while many people think the Klingons do as well, they really don't. As has been stated many times (with, IMO, the best example being the Enterprise episode "Judgment", the Klingons were not always a race of warriors who reveled in battle and conquest. This was actually a rather recent (in Star Trek terms) cultural shift for the Klingons. So no, the krogan aren't really like the Klingons to the extreme, because the Klingons don't have the underlying warrior culture that the krogan do. Just so gee-whiz info that really contributed nothing to this! :P SpartHawg948 09:56, February 15, 2010 (UTC) :: I know. The comparison isn't very good. I just reached for an example everyone is familiar with. The way the Krogan are described you can even draw a parallel with Tolkien's Uruk-Hai. Personally, I was very pleasanttly surprised how the individual Krogan turn out in the game. They actually think before they act, which most stereotyped warrier races seem to be incapable off. The only Krogan so far who actually behaves a bit like the warrior race archetype is Grunt, but that seems to have as much to do with his age as with him being a Krogan. Ajvanmarle 10:20, February 15, 2010 (UTC) Brood warriors "They are the 'elder males' of the hive and usually mate with the queen" Didn't Yaroslev Tartakovsky say that the rachni queen did not need males to mate, and that it basically reproduces with itself?-- 02:07, November 12, 2009 (UTC) :He specifically says "they carry the genetic code of their fathers", meaning that the queen can still reproduce if the hive is in crisis and there are no brood warriors. But for the sake of preserving the rachni genetically -- to prevent inbreeding occurring from this -- the brood warriors fill that role. I assume the rachni have some biological safeguard that changes the brood warriors' DNA, even though they hatch from the same queen. Mostly speculation on my part, but this explanation seems to make sense. I think the Codex or mission text mentions that the brood warriors are the drones (males) of the rachni hive. --Tullis 15:11, November 12, 2009 (UTC) That makes sense-- 21:02, November 12, 2009 (UTC) :Yeah, the codex entry does mention that the brood warriors are male. SpartHawg948 21:06, November 12, 2009 (UTC) Rachni Song Are there any clips of this supposed Rachni "song" anywhere? I've been to several of the locations where the wiki says that the Rachni song can be heard, but haven't heard anything special; I just get either silence or the normal theme that seems to play fairly randomly anywhere. Uecasm 02:25, January 5, 2010 (UTC) Removal of Speculation I believe this should be removed as the phrasing "A tone from space hushed one voice after another. It forced the singers to resonate with its own sour yellow note." may be indicative of some sort of indoctrination interference from the Reapers or Collectors it still falls into line with speculation and needs to be removed or thrown into trivia and not the bulk of the article. A proper phrasing of the section I feel, should be addressed as, "The rachni queen on Noveria alludes to a foreign body causing disruption among the rachni and forcing them to all sing "its own sour yellow note." Which may have been the reason the rachni were unable to be negotiated with."--Xaero Dumort 02:27, January 21, 2010 (UTC) There is a short discussion with an Asari on Illium that confirms this. The queen (if you let her live during Mass Effect) sends an explicit message, that the peopleyou are fighting are the same ones that messed with her race and promises her help in the future. 11:28, February 14, 2010 (UTC) "Song" What exactly is this "singing" heard on Altahe, Luna, And the Nephmos mine? I don't doubt it exists but I am extremely interested. Is there a way someone could post a sound clip? If that's to much to ask could I get a description? 03:41, January 24, 2010 (UTC) :If I recall correctly, it somewhat resembles Whale song. I don't think you can hear it while in the Mako (either that, or driving is too noisy and blocks it out), but if you get out and stand around awhile, it's very noticable. Completely freaked me out the first time I heard it (it's quite loud!) --WarlockSoL 19:12, January 29, 2010 (UTC) ME2 On Omega, if you listen to the news report screen at the back of Afterlife long enough, you can hear someone talk about how explorer vessels are discovering ships of similar design to ancient rachni scouting vessels, but the "rachni" ships quickly flee and the Council are launching a full investigation. Worth a mention? For reference, I had a male Paragon who let the queen live. 20:22, January 30, 2010 (UTC) I let the queen live, as well, and there's a little bit of dialogue on Illium involving the Rachni as well. 04:15, February 5, 2010 (UTC) Purpose Can anyone figure out or have any ideas as to what the purpose was of the Reapers sending the Rachni to war against the other Citadel races? --Babyhenchy1 12:25, February 13, 2010 (UTC) Well, for one thing it kept them from becoming allies. Since the Rachni were apperently a formidable enemy, their inclusion into the Citadel civilization would have greatly added to the defensive strength of the citadel races. Also, being completely different from the other races in terms of biology, culture etc., they might have been less likely to follow the pre-set path that the reapers want everyone to follow, making them a more tricky opponent. The Rachni war got them out of the way. Ajvanmarle 23:50, February 13, 2010 (UTC) Presumably the Reapers have lots of experience in galactic conquest, and have developed strategies to deal with the organic races. With the Protheans, they were the only (as far as we know) galactic power in their time, so there was no point in being subtle and no other options than outright invasion. Perhaps faced with numerous races (possibly with a combined power greater than the Protheans?), their strategy changes to weaken them before the initial invasion. Though given what we know of Reaper motives, large-scale civil war (and presumably huge casualties to organics) would not be in their interest. Perhaps there is a meeting point between galactic unity and numbers of organics that they were aiming for. Definitely not a united coalition of organics, but neither a massive war that would decimate their numbers. Bronzey 10:34, February 15, 2010 (UTC)